A modular synthetic approach for band-gap engineering of armchair graphene nanoribbons

Gang Li; Ki-Young Yoon; Xinjue Zhong; Jianchun Wang; Rui Zhang; Jeffrey R Guest; Jianguo Wen; X-Y Zhu; Guangbin Dong

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03747-2

A modular synthetic approach for band-gap engineering of armchair graphene nanoribbons

Nat Commun. 2018 Apr 27;9(1):1687. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03747-2.

Authors

Gang Li^{1

2}, Ki-Young Yoon^{1

2}, Xinjue Zhong³, Jianchun Wang^{1

2}, Rui Zhang⁴, Jeffrey R Guest⁴, Jianguo Wen⁴, X-Y Zhu⁵, Guangbin Dong^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, 78712, USA.
³ Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, 10027, USA.
⁴ Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, 10027, USA. [email protected].
⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA. [email protected].
⁷ Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, 78712, USA. [email protected].

Abstract

Despite the great promise of armchair graphene nanoribbons (aGNRs) as high-performance semiconductors, practical band-gap engineering of aGNRs remains an unmet challenge. Given that width and edge structures are the two key factors for modulating band-gaps of aGNRs, a reliable synthetic method that allows control of both factors would be highly desirable. Here we report a simple modular strategy for efficient preparation of N = 6 aGNR, the narrowest member in the N = 3p (p: natural number) aGNR family, and two unsymmetrically edge-functionalized GNRs that contain benzothiadiazole and benzotriazole moieties. The trend of band-gap transitions among these GNRs parallels those in donor-acceptor alternating conjugated polymers. In addition, post-functionalization of the unsymmetrical heterocyclic edge via C-H borylation permits further band-gap tuning. Therefore, this method opens the door for convenient band-gap engineering of aGNRs through modifying the heteroarenes on the edge.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't